Hunted
by Eclipsia
Summary: 7 is stalked by a mysterious creature in the midst of the night, but she is determined to find 9 before whatever is out there finds him first. However, she learns that things aren't always what they seem. Silly one-shot. Takes place after the movie.


**AN: **Yeah, I guess I've made sort of a return to FanFiction. Of course, my fanfictions will be very lame, but I think I'll post them anyway.

This isn't my first 9 fanfiction, I just haven't posted my first. So yeah, I guess this is for Halloween. :) I've read several fanfictions where the remaining stitchpunks make their new home in one of the houses that managed to stay in one piece during the war. I sort of liked the idea. Please don't hurt me. C:

**Disclaimer: **9, 7, 3, and 4 are not mine. They are (c) to Shane Acker (coughnotTimBurtoncough)

* * *

It was quiet all around, save for the creak of her feet hitting the cold wooden surface. A cold wind blew, sending a chill crawling up her spine and slowly spreading out until even the tips of her fingers tingled. She rubbed her arms, hoping the friction would help the cold. She could see the large, full moon shining outside the broken window of their humble home. It was pitch black, the moon casting the only light around. A clear, white light.

"Where's 9?" she grumbled to herself quietly. She had left the comfort and warmth of her small bed when she heard him get up suddenly and leave. Where could he have possibly gone to in the middle of the night?

She stopped her walking and stood on the edge of the moonlight. She could barely see, seeing as her optics hadn't had quite enough time adjust. 7 suddenly turned her head in the direction of where she had heard a small creak. It might have just been her hearing sensors playing tricks on her, but she swore she could hear a low shuffle somewhere in the surrounding darkness.

"9?" she whispered. She was half surprised her voice came out as a wavering croak. She paused a moment, but she heard no more sounds or movements. If he was out there, had he heard her? Why didn't he respond?

The soft sound of pitter-pattering feet came from somewhere ahead of her. They were coming closer to her. 7 felt a small rush of relief wash over her. That was 9, all right.

"9!" she whispered fiercely, rubbing her hands over her arms again. "Where are you? What are you doing??"

The feet stopped. So did she. It was dead silent all around her again.

_Creak. Scraaatch…_

The small sound of some metallic surface scratching against the wooden floor sounded out in the darkness. That definitely wasn't 9, unless he was dragging a pipe behind him. As a matter of fact, the scratching sound reminded her of something one of those beasts would make.

Just to be cautious, 7 reached for her knife, but found with surprise that she had left it in the bedroom.

"Rats." She breathed. Suddenly, a dark figure rushed past her, making her jump with surprise. What was that thing?

"9?" she raised her voice a bit. "Is that you?" No response.

Suddenly, a small, red beam of light flicked on where the figure had disappeared. She squinted as the light shone in her optics.

_Scraaaatch…_

The sound and the light slowly walked around her in a circle, a small thumping sound and the scratching following lightly. She got into a defensive position, ready to defend herself (and 9, most of likely) from whatever that thing was. Just as she was getting ready to pounce whatever was stalking her, everything stopped. The light and the sounds disappeared, and it seemed like as if she was once again alone. She waited for a minute or two, just to be sure that that thing had left, before she finally relaxed.

7 turned and started jogging back toward the bedroom. She wasn't running away—oh, no, no—she was heading back to the twins to be sure that they were all right, and to grab her spear. There was something out there. Before she could reenter the bedroom, however, she heard a yell from behind her. She turned, instantly recognizing 9's voice.

"7! Help!!! Hel-!!!" his panicked shout was suddenly cut off with a large banging sound.

"9!" she gasped, snatching her spear and sprinting towards his voice without missing a beat. "Hang on!"

She ran past the reaches of the moonlight until she was surrounded by complete darkness. Her hearing sensors seemed to be working at the maximum, hearing every single creak her feet made on the floor despite her efforts to silence them. She heard the windows and the foundation of the house groan as the wind blew, whistling in an eerie fashion. But she heard nothing that might even resemble 9.

A brief flash of the red light she had seen earlier whirred from somewhere in the darkness before disappearing again. Suddenly, she heard the floorboards behind her creak as a metal surface landed. She froze, gripping her spear tightly. She couldn't see her own hand. All she had to rely on was her hearing. There was a pause as both creatures waited for the other to strike. 7 heard the swift thud of feet as the creature pounced. She moved quickly, swinging her spear in the direction the sound came from. The creature apparently saw her move coming, however, and ducked, ramming into the lower section of her body before she had time to react. 7 yelped in surprise and lost her balance from the force of the impact. The two tumbled onto the floor. The creature had wrapped its arms around her waist and refused to let go. Something between a gasp and a scream escape 7's throat before she could stop it as she attempted at kicking the creature off of her. The creature started making some sort of sound that she couldn't quite make out as she kicked. She paused however as the sound it was making reminded her of something similar to… laughing.

The moon had apparently shifted positions during all of this and shined through a broken window just right so that she could finally see. And what she saw what quite a surprise.

Instead of some sort of mechanical beast holding her pinned to the floor and threatening to cut her in half in the most painful way possible, she saw 9 clinging to her and laughing his head off like a maniac. 7 stared at him in bewilderment before shoving him off of her. She reached for her weapon and jumped up, scanning the shadows for whatever had attacked 9 earlier. 9 still stayed on the floor, cracking up. 7 glared at him in irritation and grabbed his arm, yanking him to his feet.

"Get behind me, 9, that thing's still out there!" she ordered, pushing him slightly.

This caused 9 to cease laughing a bit. He touched 7's shoulder lightly. "Relax, 7, there's no danger."

7 growled to herself, acting as if she hadn't heard him. "Where is it? What did it look like?"

"7!" she glanced at him, surprised to see a grin on his face. "Calm down, there's no real danger—"

"Calm down???" 7 barked. "9, that thing _attacked _you, how can I cal—" she paused, registering what he said. "…No _real _danger?"

9 scratched the back of his head sheepishly when he saw how seriously she had taken everything. "Uh… yeah. It was a joke."

"…A _joke_?"

"Yeah…" he grinned at her. _Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, please don't kill me… _"You see, 3 and 4 had this idea that we do this trick to try to scare you and…" he faltered a bit at her piercing stare. "…And apparently it worked."

7 straightened up, processing this news. "But… I saw it. It had this red light and…"

"All part of the trick." 9 told her. "The twins found this small flashlight that shot a red beam out, and then they found this pipe that, if we dragged it around, it sounded like one of those metal beasts, so then I—"

"9!!!" 7 screamed, clenching her fist so tightly around her spear that it probaby dented the surface. He stumbled back, holding his hands up defensively. "You IDIOT!!! What were you THINKING?!! Tricking me like that!"

9 attempted at saying something, but found himself cowering. "It was just a joke…?"

-----

3 and 4 peeked around the corner, watching all the action going on between the two other stitchpunks. They smiled at each other, exchanging high fives.

"_Well that was certainly amusing!" _4 clicked.

3 nodded his head. _"Quite a successful experiment! I've never seen 7 nearly as frightened as she was tonight!"_

They looked at 9 currently getting quite shoved about by 7 as she dragged him back into the bedroom angrily.

"_I fear that 9 may have taken all the blame for our experiment…" _3 stated nervously.

4 hung his head for a second before straightening up.

"_No matter, 7 shall be over it in the morning."_

"_9 may be quite bruised, however…"_

"_Look on the bright side! We managed to get out unharmed!"_

"_Quite right! Come, let us hurry back to our beds before 7 realizes we're gone."_

And so, the twins scurried off back to bed.

* * *

**AN: **My sister said the ending was predictable. Oh well. D:

I don't really think the twins are heartless like they might have come off, but I see them being a bit mischievous if bored. Also, sorry if anyone seems out of character. But then again, the best things in life are! 8D


End file.
